Do You Have What it Takes to Play Poker for a Living?

Fox · July 20, 2010

Do you have what it takes to go pro? Are you really sure you want to know? You might not like the answer, but I can give you a pretty good idea what it takes. If you’re happy with poker now and you’re enjoying playing poker, stop reading now and don’t worry about it.

How would we know if you have what it takes?

The first way we could tell if you have “it” is if you became successful in the poker world very quickly. Since you are reading this, you probably did not have that experience. Those twenty year old whiz kids that tear up the tables right away have a natural aptitude for the game, a quick mind and either a good study ethic or a few friends that are very good players to help them along. If that isn’t you, then read on.

*PocketFives Article of the Month – July 2010*

If you have been successful in other ventures, then you may have the dedication that it takes to study and work hard rather than the usual course of playing lots of poker, buying a few books, and waiting for your big score. Most successful poker players over the age of twenty five have been successful in other careers as well. But don’t confuse desire with dedication.

I get emails every week from players who want lessons and want to tell me their story to see if they are a good candidate for lessons. Their emails usually stress their passion for the game and how badly they want it. But passion does not help you win. It doesn’t even help you learn. I was very passionate about playing the guitar for awhile, but I just wasn’t talented enough to be truly great and I didn’t study hard enough to be a working journeyman player. Now it’s just a hobby, and that’s the best thing for it.

What helps you learn is dedication. This is true in almost any vocation. If you are dedicated to being a great salesperson, you can make $100,000 a year in any of a thousand jobs as long as you have some ability to deal with people. If you are a dedicated computer programmer, you can become quite good and get a degree within a few years and make piles of cash. It’s all about sticking to a program of study. That’s why we don’t let doctors and pilots just learn things on their own and start performing surgery or flying planes. If they haven’t been through a dedicated program that requires consistent study, then we can’t be certain that they are competent in their jobs.

Now how can we know if you don’t have “it?”

If you are impatient and can’t manage to study because you always want to be at the tables, then you probably don’t have it. Some players are able to learn at the tables, but they are rare and very special talents. The rest of us have to talk poker with other players in meaningful ways rather than telling bad beat stories. We may have to buy books and actually study them. Do any of your poker books have notes in the margins? Mine do. We may have to take lessons or join a training site or a post regularly on a forum in strategy discussions. We need to work at it.

If you have a gambling problem, you probably don’t have what it takes, and even more importantly, playing poker for a living may be dangerous for you. Most players with gambling issues can not learn to fold a hand, can’t manage to get away from the tables long enough to study, and would rather play all night and then complain about other players than figure out why they keep losing. Addiction is a tough hurdle to overcome and you need to crush it completely to play poker professionally or you’ll end up broke. Bad bankroll management, a craps problem, or the simple inability to play correctly because you would rather “gamble” will make it almost impossible for you to succeed.

If you are really bad at math and logic problems, you definitely do not have it. Notice I didn’t say “if you are a moron.” There are many very gifted and wise people in the world who are not good with math and logic. I’m a terrible artist myself. I can’t sculpt or draw or paint anything that looks remotely like what I envision, but it doesn’t mean I’m not creative or intelligent, just that I lack those particular talents. Very short people can’t play basketball professionally and very tall people don’t make good jockeys. It doesn’t mean they aren’t athletic, they’re just not suited for a certain profession. You may be very smart, a witty, creative, artistic person and a brilliant story teller. But if you can’t solve logic problems, then poker probably isn’t going to work out for you as a profession.

If you think you aren’t good at math, as so many people do, rethink that from a fresh perspective. Is analytical thinking really a problem for you, or is it that you didn’t like math classes in school and never learned much? If the math was for poker could you learn it or not? I used to hate math, and in fact I nearly failed high school geometry, but once I found an interesting use for mathematics I not only enjoyed it, I discovered that I was pretty good at it.

If you really want to know if you have “it” then we come back to dedication. Are you willing to study one form of poker and study hard until you are crushing the games? Can you stay within a bankroll and control your urge to gamble? If you are given a set of starting hands, can you stay within them or will you keep limping with mediocre hands under the gun? Do you have the guts to pull off a big bluff and the patience to do it only very, very rarely?

I hope you find that you have what it takes. If you don’t have what it takes I hope you figure that out sooner rather than later and make poker a hobby. I can tell you that playing the guitar is a lot more fun now that I’m not trying to do it professionally. Find what you are good at and make a living doing it, treat everything else as a hobby and enjoy it. That’s the best advice I’ve got.

I’ll see you at the final table,

Chris Fox Wallace

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